时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:美国习惯用语


英语课

   今天我们要讲的美国习惯用语是:burn the midnight oil。Burn就是燃烧,midnight是半夜,oil就是油。 Burn the midnight oil就是深夜还在学习或工作,也就是开夜车。


  我们来举一个例子,这是一个理工科学生在说,他认为在所有的必修课中物理课最难。
  例句-1:The hardest part is the physics requirement 1. I can do the engineering 2 sections and computer science and chemistry, but physics is almost impossible. Whenever you see me burning the midnight oil, you'll know it's the physics that's keeping me up.
  这个学生说:最难的是物理。 机械、电脑和化学课我都能对付,可物理几乎就是不可能学会的。不管什么时候你看到我开夜车,你就知道我一定是为了物理课。
  美国大学生,和其他国家的学生一样,都有熬夜的习惯。 有的学生挑灯夜战是因为功课多作不完。但也有许多学生或年轻人就是喜欢晚上念书或活动,早上起得很晚。
  根据记载,burn the midnight oil这个习惯用语是在1635年开始使用的。 当时还没有电灯,所以人们要熬夜都得点油灯。这才出现了burn the midnight oil这个说法。虽然人们早就有了电灯,不过burn the midnight oil这个习惯用语至今还很流行。
  ******
  下面我们再来听一个例句。这是一位律师在说他的工作经常会迫使他熬夜:
  例句-2:Normally I get home from work at 6:30 and then after dinner I'll often work until 9 or 10. However, when I'm in the middle of a court case or in the lead up to it, I'll often need to burn the midnight oil in preparation.
  这位律师说:我通常六点半下班回家, 吃过晚饭之后我经常要工作到九、十点钟。 但是在一个案件正在审理期间或是在开庭之前, 我经常要熬夜作准备。
  美国人经常需要律师,因为诉讼案很多。但是美国的律师总的说来给人们的印象并不好。在人们心目中,律师都很有钱,因为他们收费很高;他们口若悬河,能把白的说成黑的。尽管如此,人们在必要的时候还离不了他们。

1 requirement
n.需要,要求,请求,规定,必要条件
  • Patience is a requirement in teaching.耐心是教学必备的条件。
  • Your requirement that she wait till next week is reasonable.你要求她等到下周是有道理的。
2 engineering
n.工程,工程学,管理,操纵
  • The science of engineering began as soon as man learned to use tools. 人类一学会使用工具,工程科学就开始了。
  • It was the first great engineering works in the world. 这是世界上第一家大型的工程工厂。
标签: 美国习惯用语
学英语单词
abdominal part
absolutely stable
absorbing state
adrenochromes
aluminium foils
asymmetric transformation
banded stilts
basivertebral vein
battologized
be let in on the ground floor
body feed
Buridan's ass
cash invoice
Chorzelów
chronographer
clip off
combined vibrating roller
compensating feedback loop
conus planorbis
cost objective
cotton production
cylinder by-pass valve
D-frame
data over voice
days of rest
deglamorization
derestrict
dextrotorsion
dispersion-equalization
ditching attitude
Dohans
electrical characteristics
externally-braced monoplane
fall-out of synchronism
forecaddies
golden eagle
Goldstein-Scheerer tests
graduated string
half-hunter
Haplopappus spinulosus
have analogy to
heating system
heliotridylamine
hildebrand
hotlines
hyuck
indirect type central air-conditioning unit
Internet suffix
Izena-jima
Kurdistani
lampyridaes
leukoplania
liquid waste receiver tank
local acceptance
lsi-cml circuit technology
magnetoresistance magnetometer
merions
metal surface plasmon and second harmonic generator
minimum graph
mohs scales
natural environment management
nervi ampullaris lateralis
neverless
occasional light
once and a way
ordinary life assurance
oscillator padding
Osipa
photocell matrix
piston curl
pivot hinge
pontes
prequalified tenderer
puffest
queueing system structure
reflux column
repair of side ditch
Revere, Paul
sample-reset loop filter
Scirpus rosthornii
scornliche
separation of spinal cord and arachnoid adhesions
silicon diode array
sope
speed through the water
stellite-faced valve
Subprime Meltdown
tee-times
toll free number
toroidal discharge
transitive law
trichomonal urethro-cystitis
under constraint
undistributed score
virus diarrhea
waltz through
white cypresses
wide anode
win ... over
Yak-141
yellow-necked mice
zygomorphic pea flower